Narn I Chin Hurin

The Tale of the Children of Hurin

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

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If you're interested in getting into J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Arda beyond "The Hobbit"/"The Lord of the Rings," this is a GREAT place to start! "The Silmarillion" can be daunting because it reads more like a history text or a Bible at times, and while "The Unfinished Tales" are wonderful, they're, well, unfinished. Having read these other histories helps to place "The Children of Hurin" within the wider context of Arda's ancient history and legends, but isn't necessary to understand the novel on its own: and it does read like a novel!

If "The Children of Hurin" is your first foray into Arda's history, however, I do recommend reading the introduction. It provides helpful geographical/"historical" context. And if you're spatially challenged like me, follow along with the map in the back of the book!

Then, pick up "Beren and Luthien," the next of Christopher Tolkien's novel compilations!

J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, The Lord of the Rings, stands as one of the greatest works of the English language alongside books like East of Eden, The King James Bible, and the plays of William Shakespeare. It is a novel of depth, brilliance, heart, and soul. Yet The Children of Hurin is my favorite of his works, and in my opinion is vastly underrated. Perhaps even more so than The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin seems like a real myth, lifted from the pages of history, from a culture lost to our world. Yes the novel is based on a real-world myth, but it is so effortlessly woven into the Legendarium as to feel alive and fresh in the hands of Tolkien.

The cheery-eyed attitude of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings is nowhere to be found here, and anyone who says Tolkien could not write tragedy have never familiarized themselves with this work. It is unfortunate that the opening two chapters are in the shape they are in (too long and focused on peripheral background), because the actual narrative of Turin Turambar, son of Hurin, is the finest narrative Tolkien ever crafted.

Tragic, morbid, and sad. The Children of Hurin is not light reading, nor is it extremely "fun." Yet it stands in a class of literature all its own. This book represents world-building at its finest. Mythopeia. The pure joy of sub-creation is found in this work. That of course is true of all Tolkien's writings, and yet here it comes alive and leaps from the page with depth and breadth and width that sets it apart from anything else you will ever read. Just like The Lord of the Rings, to call The Children of Hurin mere "fantasy" seems a disservice. Tolkien was not a genre writer. He was one of the finest literary craftsmen to ever set pen to paper. This is meant in no disrespect to other authors of fantasy literature, the very genre Tolkien helped created, but it is meant as an acknowledgement that Tolkien simply wrote. He meant it for no one in particular, and this gives the writings a universal appeal.

Somehow within the story of Turin Turambar is your own story, and somewhere within is the story of the whole human race. Somehow we are simply doomed.

Tolkien's work is a Tragic Epic that had me hooked. Some of the names became a little confusing due to their similarity and the style of prose is definitely different, but I really enjoyed the book overall. The map at the back was helpful for getting into the lay of the land and understanding some of the treks the characters made.

As a whole the story is quite epic in it's Tolkien style, and it is great to get more than just a note-ish glimpse into the tale from the First Age and of the peoples of Beleriand. The Silmarillion offers quite a look into it as well, but I felt more in tune while reading this and I believe Christopher Tolkien did well in bringing the story to it's presentation. The tale is definitely wrought in sadness and I felt pain for Hurin and what became of his family. Sad tale indeed. Was a bit thrown off with the Turin and Niniel relationship, and felt relieved at the eventual unraveling of that awkward situation. Arthurian reminder. Overall, if you're a Tolkien nut as am I and can't get enough of the tales, then have a go and journey into the Eldar Days.

I somehow missed that this book was being published and found out the day it ran out of stock at every bookstore in Seattle! I had to wait a couple days for B&N to get it in, then finished it in two days. Tolkien's epic fantasy style is like liquid chocolate, rich and full with a pleasant aftertaste!
If you loved the Silmarillion, you will love this book. If you thought the Silmarillion was too long with too many names, this might be more tolerable for you because it chronicles a very short time frame in Middle Earth.

An epic and yet saddening tale from the days of Middle-earth yore. Chilling, words cold and bleak from the dark wrought into the light; great were the trails and trials of the shadow on the children of Hurin. From henceforth, be ye fore-warned! This book is an enjoyable read for seasoned Tolkien readers, but could be a bit difficult for the fledgling traveller of Tolkien's world to navigate. The text itself remains true to Tolkien's style of narrative and language, which at first read to a novice could be daunting to the exploration of his realms; the first steps down a path discouraged by more than just the fear of dragons and magic.

Wonderful Book!! To whoever who loves Tolkien's style of fiction...It's written in the rather complicates English style of J.R.R Tolkien, but still VERY enjoyable..Highly recommended for fantasy-lovers...

This book is very good! As usual, Tolkien's story-telling creates a crafty and chilling tale with great twists and turns, dragons and magic. My favorite story (besides Lord of the Rings) by Tolkien. A must-read for Tolkien fans!

A gorgeous volume with illustrations, colour plates and even a fold out map enhance the experience but overall this book lacks the coherency and scope of Tolkien's more polished works. Recommendable for fans, the casual reader possibly won't derive much from it.